Anthropometry and cardiovascular risk factors were measured in men and women of the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. Cross-sectional and longitudinal statistical analyses examined the relationships among body habitus (body composition and fat distribution) and aging, mortality, and selected cardiovascular risk factors (blood pressure, glucose tolerance, lipid levels). The abdominal sagittal diameter is a simple anthropometric measurement that can be used in population studies. Its use as a surrogate for intra-abdominal fat measurement (by CT or XRI) was suggested from studies conducted by Gothenburg, Sweden scientists. It was therefore used as an index of an individual's central adiposity. SXR was significantly correlated to the risk factors in both younger and older men and women. However the correlations were considerably stronger in the younger subjects. Increasing abdominal sagittal diameter was associated with increased all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality in younger BLSA men ('55 years-but not older men (adjusted for age, height and body mass index). From the findings of this project, it can be concluded that: (1) the abdominal sagittal diabetes is positively correlated to cardiovascular risk factors in men and women; (2) the strength of this relationship decreases with age; (3) and the abdominal sagittal diameter is a strong predictor of mortality in younger adult men, independent of the degree of obesity.